Instrument networking for optical particle counters

ABSTRACT

An airborne or liquid particle sensor with a number of advanced features is disclosed. The sensor includes an output channel generating an electrical signal for a particle passing through the sensor, where the electrical signal includes information related to the pulse. The information is processed by the sensor to determine a value that indicates a more accurate particle mass for a sample period than the average mass.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application No. Ser.15/620,781, filed on Jun. 12, 2017, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 14/701,485 filed on Apr. 30, 2015, whichclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/986,532, filed onApr. 30, 2014, the entire disclosures of each of the above applicationsbeing hereby incorporated herein by reference. This application is alsoa continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. 14/214,899, filedMar. 15, 2014, which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application61/786,616, filed on Mar. 15, 2013, the entire disclosures of each ofthe above applications being hereby incorporated herein by reference.

This application is related to and incorporates by reference: U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/214,899, filed herewith on Mar.15, 2014, titled PARTICLE COUNTER WITH INTEGRATED BOOTLOADER by inventorDavid Pariseau; U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/214,870,filed herewith on Mar. 15, 2014, titled PERSONAL AIR QUALITY MONITORINGSYSTEM by inventors David Pariseau and Adam Giandomenico; U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/214,903, filed herewith on Mar.15, 2014, titled MIXED-MODE PHOTO-AMPLIFIER FOR PARTICLE COUNTER byinventors David Pariseau and Ivan Horban; U.S. Non-Provisionalapplication Ser. No. 14/214,876, filed herewith on Mar. 15, 2014, titledMULTIPLE PARTICLE SENSORS IN A PARTICLE COUNTER by inventor DavidPariseau; U.S. Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/214,889, filedherewith on Mar. 15, 2014, titled INTELLIGENT MODULES IN A PARTICLECOUNTER by inventor David Pariseau; U.S. Non-Provisional applicationSer. No. 14/214,895, filed herewith on Mar. 15, 2014, titled PULSE SCOPEFOR PARTICLE COUNTER by inventor David Pariseau; and U.S.Non-Provisional application Ser. No. 14/214,907, filed herewith on Mar.15, 2014, titled PULSE DISCRIMINATOR FOR PARTICLE COUNTER by inventorsDavid Pariseau and Ivan Horban, the entire disclosures of which arehereby incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Particle counters have been used for decades in manufacturing orindustrial applications to measure particulate quantities in air, gasesor liquids. Typically such counters also group particulates by size.These size channels vary by application and often by instrument. Aparticle counter has at least one size channel and popular counters canhave 6 or more channels. Typically these size channels discriminatepulses based on the pulse height of the incoming signal, which is ameasure of the light blocked or scattered as particles interrupt a lightbeam (typically a laser). These counts are then often displayed on alocal display as differential counts (particles for a given sizechannel) or cumulative counts for this size channel and all largerchannels. The counts are typically logged in some local memory and canalso be communicated via some external interface to facility monitoringsystems, or remote computers or devices.

SUMMARY

In accordance with the aspects of the invention, a system and a methodare disclosed that enhance the functionality of traditional particlesensors or counters for airborne and liquid particles. The embodimentsset forth, in accordance with the aspects of the invention, extend thefunctionality of traditional particle counters by adding advancedfeatures and functions. These features and functions provide enhancefunctionality, which adds value to these instruments and allows them toprovide both new information, and to process existing information inorder to make it more useful and accessible to users. This addssignificant value to standard instrumentation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following detailed description is directed to certain sampleembodiments. However, the disclosure can be embodied in a multitude ofdifferent ways as defined and covered by the claims. In thisdescription, reference is made to the drawings wherein like parts aredesignated with like numerals throughout.

FIG. 1 illustrates a pulse output of a particle sensor in accordancewith the various aspects of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a particle counting system or instrument in accordance withthe various aspects of the invention.

FIG. 3A is a particle counting system in accordance with the variousaspects of the invention.

FIG. 3B shows a system in accordance with the various aspects of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3C shows a personal device incorporating a system in accordancewith the various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 3D shows a device in communication with a second device using aninterface in accordance with the various aspects of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3E shows a device in communication with a second device inaccordance with the various aspects of the present invention.

FIG. 3F shows a method of local and remote control of an opticalparticle counter in accordance with various aspects of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating counts over a period of time inaccordance with the various aspects of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustration of the counts in accordance with thevarious aspects of the invention.

FIG. 6 is a display for presenting the data in real-time in accordancewith the various aspects of the invention.

FIG. 7 is a particle counter system in accordance with the variousaspects of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with the invention, it should be observed that theembodiments reside primarily in combinations of method step andapparatus components related to facilitating the invention. Accordinglythe components and method steps have been represented where appropriateby conventional symbols in the drawing showing only those specificdetails that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of theinvention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will bereadily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having thebenefit of the description herein.

Unless defined otherwise, all terms used herein have the same meaning ascommonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which thisinvention belongs. Any methods and systems, similar or equivalent tothose described herein, can also be used in the practice of theinvention. Representative illustrative methods and embodiments ofsystems are also described in accordance with the aspects of theinvention.

It is noted that, as used in this description, the singular forms “a,”“an” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearlydictates otherwise. Reference throughout this specification to “anaspect,” “one aspect,” “various aspects,” “another aspect,” “oneembodiment,” “an embodiment,” “certain embodiment,” or similar languagemeans that a particular aspect, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment of the invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases “in oneembodiment,” “in at least one embodiment,” “in an embodiment,” “incertain embodiments,” and similar language throughout this specificationmay, but do not necessarily, all refer to the same embodiment.

Referring now to FIG. 1, in accordance with various aspects of theinvention, an example of a pulse, which is an example of an output by aparticle sensor (typically a photodetector and amplifier) created by aparticulate passing through a light beam (typically a created by alaser). The pulse depicts the voltage output of an amplifier over time,though it could be transmitted in a variety of other means (for examplecurrent pulse over time).

Pulses are typically qualified by some baseline threshold to allow fordiscrimination of valid pulses from noise. Valid pulses would then be,in accordance with some aspects of the invention, those signals abovethis baseline threshold. Once a pulse crosses such a threshold 110 it issized by channel typically based on the peak amplitude of the pulse(though in some cases pulse-width might also be a factor, as in somediscriminators designed by Particles Plus, Inc.). In the example in FIG.1, the particulate pulses 101,102 would both be binned in an A channel111 and a B channel 112, but would not be binned in a C channel 113,since the peak amplitude of these particulate pulses 101 and 102 doesnot cross the threshold for the C channel 113. In this example, the massof particulates in the B channel 112 would include all particles withpeaks between the B channel's 112 threshold and the C channel's 113threshold. The amount of light scattered by the two pulses 10 and 102are substantially different. For the purposes of this graphic, bothpulses are shown overlaid on each other, but in reality they would beseparated in time.

True Mass Calculation

Typically when estimating total particulate mass, particle counters takethe number of counts in each size (herein size refers to a range)channel and then the counter calculates an average mass for theparticles in this channel based on an average size estimated at the sizeof particles in the middle of that channel, for example if there was 0.3um channel followed by a 0.5 um channel then the average size of the0.3um channel would be assumed to be 0.4 um (the middle of the 0.3um or(0.5 um-0.3 um) /2+0.3 um. Of course other methods might be used toarrive at an estimated size, perhaps this parameter might even be madeto be configurable, the key concept is that current generations ofinstruments attempt to attribute a single average size to allparticulates in that channel for the purposes of calculating particlemass.

To estimate the mass of particles in that channel for a given sample thecounter takes the average particle size (discussed above), converts thatsize to volume of material, multiplies this by the expected density ofthat material to arrive at the mass of an average particle for thatchannel and then multiplies it by the number of particles counted duringa sample to arrive at the particle mass for that channel during thatsample. That figure can then be used directly or scaled to some standardvolume to infer what the particle mass for a standard volume of air ofthis particle size would be based on this representative sample,Multiple channels could be added together to give a sense oftotal-particle-mass for the instrument's entire range or some subsetthereof,

Theses masses are then displayed either as a mass per channel or thetotal mass for all the channels. Since no information on actual particlesizes is retained in the counter, the estimated average size ofparticles in a channel can lead to potentially large errors in estimatedmass versus the actual mass, when the actual average size differs fromthe estimated average size.

To refine this estimate, one can factor in the index of refractivity,the density of particulates, even some assumed geometry for theparticles. This helps to some extent, if data associated with thesefactors for the particulates being counted are available. However, itdoesn't address the issue that particulates are all grouped in a singlechannel and an average of the mass of particles in that channel has tosomehow choose a single value, which may also be represented in arange—to describe this population of particulates.

Typically when particulates are added to a particular channel's counterthe detailed information on that particulate is lost. If however, themass of the particulate is calculated during the acquisition of thatparticle and transmitted as an estimate of its actual mass to thechannel manager, then the system can accumulate not only counts(occurrences of particles) but a sum of the estimated masses of eachparticulate as it arrived. This would provide a far more accuratemeasure of mass than averaging an entire channel could provide.

In accordance with some aspects of the invention, to derive a betterestimate of mass, the system would integrate the area under a pulsecurve for the duration of the pulse above the pulse threshold. Byintegrating that entire area, the system would have a more accuratemeasure of the actual light energy scattered by the particulate as theparticles transited the beam. This would require many consecutivevoltage measurements of the pulse, with each of these summed to providean overall measurement of the area.

In accordance with various aspects of the invention, to derive anestimate of the mass, the system simply measures the pulsepeak—height—and the pulse width (in accordance with one aspect, it wouldbe done at the pulse threshold) and multiply the two to arrive at a 2Drepresentation of the area. This may be less accurate. Thus, inaccordance with some aspects of the invention, a correction factor isapplied to this measurement to account for the expected shape of such apulse. This, in accordance with various aspects of the invention, isbased either on a theoretically calculated or an empirically derivedformula. This would allow the system to quickly derive an estimated massfor each particle as it arrived. If these “areas” were summed andcommunicated along with the counts for each channel, then the systemcould arrive at a more accurate measure of total mass.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, the mass of the particles,in a given channel, is accumulated during the sample by calculating orestimating the actual size of each particle as it is processed withthese values being summed together to provide a more accurate estimateof the total particle mass than is traditionally seen with an arithmeticaverage based on the total particles counted times an estimated averagesize.

Channel Synchronization

Errors often accrue in a counter when attempting to synchronize theaccumulation of counts from various channels over time. A controllermanaging such is burdened with many other tasks. As such there are oftenlatencies in channel management which can entail reading peak pulsesvoltages or reading external channel counters (in the case of wrappingof such counters these might require several reads). All of thistypically occurs linearly and, as such, small timing errors can occurand accumulate that can sometimes skew certain results or values. Theseare typically small variations and are largely ignored.

However, if a system is implemented with a fast pulse-processingparallel front-end (for example, like with an FPGA) then many of theseerrors can be eliminated. The front-end can process each pulse in andmanage the counters in parallel, and all of the data can be latched in asingle operation (likely at the request of the main controller). In thisway, when requested, the front-end can latch all of the counterssimultaneously, as well as the accumulated mass (if available, asoutline above), as well as the elapsed time since the last latch, etc.In that way all of the timing issues inherent in a single controllerimplementation are removed since the data arrives all synchronized andwith an accurate elapsed time so that calculations based on these valueswill have increased accuracy.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a system is represented in accordance with theaspects of the invention. The system includes a particle sensor 200. Theparticle sensor 200 converts incoming particulates to electrical pulses.A pulse processing front-end 203, which could easily be implemented inan FPGA (as described above) or even with discrete logic, a DSP, or afast, dedicated controller, manages the processing of those pulses. Thepulse processing front-end 203 would set at least one threshold for atleast one comparator 201 and get an estimate of pulse width by recordingthe time for pulses above the threshold.

In accordance with other aspects and embodiments of the invention, apeak-detector and analog-to-digital converter 202 would be setup tomeasure an accurate peak height for each pulse, and combined with thepulse width for that pulse (based on the comparator 201 output) toarrive at an estimated pulse area representing the amount of lightscattered by the particle and hence yielding a representation of themass for that pulse. These pulse masses would be summed for the sampleand reported along with the traditional channel counts.

The pulse-processing front-end 203 would be connected to an instrumentcontroller 205, which would manage traditional functions like displayinginformation on a display 208. The display 208, in accordance withvarious aspects of the invention, is an LCD with touchscreen. Thedisplay 208, in accordance with various aspects of the invention, is asingle LED indicating that particle counts are above some predeterminedor configurable threshold. The scope of the invention is not limited bythe type of display. The instrument controller 205 would also allow forthe information to be logged to memory 207, either volatile ornon-volatile or both, and would also allow for communication, through acommunication module or unit 206, with external systems.

Sleep Between Samples

In accordance with the various aspects of the invention, the particlecounters implement a concept referred to as locations and recipes, orsome variant thereof. These allow users to collect air (or liquid)samples according to some pre-arranged parameters and schedule. Forexample, a unit might sample differently in different locations (more orless time) depending on these pre-configured requirements. In some casesan instrument might be placed, left, or unattended for an extendedperiod of time and setup to perform periodic sampling for laterretrieval or analysis (or for remote analysis).

If there is local power (plug-in or some similar outlet for powersupply) then having the unit remain continuously power up (or on) istypically not an issue. In the case where the power source is a battery(limited supply of power) or it is a battery operated unit orinstrumentation, this would limit the potential duration that such aninstrument could remain continuously power up to operate, unattended. Inaccordance with various aspects of the invention, a second controller isadded to such the unit or instrument to manage the power and shut theinstrument down between samples, when the delay between such sampling issufficiently long. The power control, through using a sleep or shut downmode, would greatly extended the amount of time such an instrument couldoperate, unattended or independent of the local power source.

The second controller could also provide a persistent memory to storethe present state of the instrument between power cycles, and timekeeping so it could wake-up after the desired delay so the next samplecould be taken. The second controller would communicate the storedinstrument state so the sampling could continue where it was before theinstrument went to sleep or power cycled.

In accordance with some aspects of the invention, both controller can beimplemented on a single controller. In accordance with some aspects ofthe invention, a second controller can be added that is a dedicated topower management. Hence, a lower-power controller can be used and powerto most of the instrument's (or unit's) board can be shut off duringthese deep sleep periods, greatly increasing the life of the battery,which is an on-board battery.

Referring now to FIG. 3A, in accordance with aspects of the inventionand another embodiment, a system is shown that includes two controllersconfigured. An instrument controller 301 controls the normal operationof the system or the particle counter, managing the particle sensor 300,which includes in this example all the pulse processing circuitryrequired to process pulses from particulates. The instrument controller301 manages traditional functions like displaying information on sometype of display 304, which might be as sophisticated as an LCD withtouchscreen or as simple as a single LED indicating that particle countsare above some predetermined or configurable threshold.

The instrument controller 301 would also allow for the information to belogged to memory 303, which is either volatile memory or non-volatilememory or both, and would also allow for communication using, acommunication module or unit 302, with external systems. In addition theinstrument controller 301 would also communicate with a power controller310 to ascertain the current power status of the system, for example thestatus of a battery 311, a battery charger 312, or whether AC power 313is present, as well as possibly recovering non-volatile information likea current real-time-clock-calendar (RTCC) 314 values or some otherstored parameters.

In between samples the Instrument controller 301 could request that thePowercontroller 310 shutdown power to the instrument circuits forexample 300, 301, 302, 303, 304, and itself enter a low-power modemaintaining only the systems necessary for some period of time, thatperiod perhaps a parameter supplied by the instrument controller 301during the sleep request. The Power controller 310 would then complyshutting down power to most of the instrument for some predefined time(or until some other event occurs, for example a button press, insertionof AC power, etc.

In certain embodiments, an air quality monitoring system, such as aportable particle detection system, is worn or carried by a user toprovide real-time monitoring of the air quality in their localenvironment.

Referring now to FIG. 3B, illustrated is an embodiment of an air qualitymonitoring system (400), also referred to as “personal particle counter”or “personal counter” or “personal counter device.” Here, air is passedthrough a light beam generated by a light source (320) where particlesscatter light (322). The airstream is generated by a fan or blower (324)or some other air impeller where air is drawn or pushed into theenclosure and is routed in such a way as to pass through the beam. Incertain embodiments, the light source is a laser diode, alight-emitting-diode, or the equivalent. The light is focused by a lensto create a ribbon of light through which the airstream passes, in orderto provide controlled scattering of light by particle size. In anotherimplementation, a light blocking system is utilized, in which a beam ispresented to a photo-diode and particles obscure the beam as they passthrough it, thereby providing the signal.

In the case of a light-scattering system. Light scattered by particlesin the stream (326) gets collected by a reflector (328) and presented tothe photo-detector (330) and the resulting signal is amplified by thepre-amplifier stage (332), such as a trans-impedance amplifier. In somecases a second amplification (334) is utilized and the resultingelectrical signal is used to drive one or more threshold comparators(336, 338). The outputs of the threshold comparators (336, 338) is usedas inputs to counter channels within the microcontroller (340). Thesecounts are used to determine the quality of the air. In this case thereare two separate channels, which could be setup to different counts forparticles of different sizes.

The air quality monitoring system (400) is powered locally by a battery(342), which is charged from some external power source. A large numberof charging techniques are possible including, but not limited to: anexternal power connector, power from some external wired interface,wireless (inductive) charging, a solar cell, local charging from energyharvesting means. The battery power is managed locally via the powermanagement circuit (344) that provided regulated power to the on-boardcircuitry (including the analog circuits (amplifiers, comparators,etc.)) and the digital circuitry (microcontroller, internal/externalinterfaces).

Here, the internal/external user interfaces (346) is communicativelycoupled to the threshold comparator. In certain embodiments, theinternal/external user interfaces (346) comprise one or more of thesenon-limiting features:

an on-board display, liquid-crystal-display (LCD) or other, to displaycurrent air quality status, air-quality over time, cumulativeparticulate mass, graphs, charts, etc. or other air quality,

an on-board memory (volatile or non-volatile) to store or log historicair quality data (for display use or later retrieval and reporting oranalysis),

an on-board eccentric-rotating-mass (ERM) motor, to provide vibration toalert or interface with user,

an on-board audio transducer, to provide sound to alert or interfacewith user,

one or more push-buttons on-board, to interface with user,

an on-board wired interface channel for communication with externaldevices,

an on-board wired interface to allow the battery to be charged, and anon-board wireless communications interface channel for communicationwith external devices.

The above gives a general overview of the invention with some of theinterface options. In certain embodiments, the air quality monitoringsystem (400) is embodied in a carrying means that takes on the structureof any of a plurality of form-factors, not limited by the examplesprovided below:

Referring now to FIG. 3C, a personal device or mobile phone version(350) is shown. In this embodiment, the device is housed as an adjunctto or as a holder for a mobile or smart phone (352). In the examplebelow, the personal counter device (354) is attached to the docking portof the mobile phone (356) in order to provide a wired interface.Alternatively or in combination, the personal counter 354 is molded intoa holder for the phone and communicates with the phone wirelessly (viaBluetooth or WiFi for example). In this example the air enters from thetop (358) and exits from the bottom (360).

In accordance with various aspects of the present invention, otherpossible embodiments include:

a broach form-factor that could be pinned or clipped to a garment orpurse or something similar,

a carrier to allow it to be mounted in a vehicle,

a carrier to allow it to be mounted to a bicycle or motorbike,

a carrier for a golf-cart,

an armband that can be worn, perhaps during sporting activities ortraining, and

in a pair of glasses, perhaps with a heads-up display projected on oneor more lenses.

Again many embodiments are possible for such a personal device, and theabove embodiments are meant only to provide a sense of this varietyrather than to attempt to describe the entire scope of possibleembodiments.

A bootloader provides the means of updating the code-base within adevice. The bootloader shares an existing communication channel toprovide this functionality and implements this functionality as part ofthe existing communications protocol or via some different or customprotocol. For example, one such bootloader is the asynchronous serialbootloader for a single microcontroller.

Referring now to FIG. 3D, a device 600 includes a microcontroller 601that includes an interfaces 607 to an external device 610 via amicrocontroller 601′s UART 605 and a level shifter 606 to provide anRS-232C type interface 607. In accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention, the interface 607 is used to collect data from the device 600to log, display or analyze remotely, perhaps on a personal computer. Inaccordance with another aspect of the present invention, the interface607 is used to update the non-volatile memory image in the device 600.The non-volatile memory includes bootloader image or code 602, programimage 603, and non-volatile data 604. Bootloader code 602 resides inprogram memory is invoked by sending a particular command over interface607, or sending a command at a particular time when the bootloader isactive (for example immediately after power is cycled on the device 600,or when a recessed button is pressed, or the like).

After the bootloader code 602 is activated, the external device 610sends at least one of the new program image 603, or non-volatile data604, which might comprise operating parameters, tables, etc., to thedevice 600. In accordance with various aspects of the present invention,the bootloader allows writing of at least one program image. This allowsthe device 600's internal firmware to be updated without accessing thedevice 600's internals or providing a dedicated external programminginterface. In accordance with at least one aspect of the presentinvention, external interface 607 is a network cable connected to arouter or a wireless communication device (not shown) that is incommunication with an external device, which could reside anywhere inthe world and linked over a broadband network to the device 600 throughthe router.

In accordance with some aspects of the present and certain embodiments,FIG. 3E shows a particle counter 364 (also referred to as “particlecounter system”) that includes at least one particle sensor, twomicrocontrollers 370 and 380, two external non-volatile memories 379 and389, and at least one external communication interface 391. The particlecounter 364 interfaces to an external device 392 over the interface 391.During typical operation the interface 391 is used to retrieve loggeddata from the particle counter 364 to display, log or analyze at, forexample, the external device 392. In accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention, the interface 391 is a wireless connection. Inaccordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the interface391 is a wired connection, such as a USB.

In accordance with one aspect, the interface 391 is a link that is alsoused to read and/or write to the microcontroller non-volatile memories372, 373, 382, 383 and/or the external non-volatile memories 378 and388. In order to do so bootloader mode would be initiated on theparticle counter 364. For example, a special command (or commandsequence) is sent over the USB interface 391 to the microcontroller 370.On receiving this command, or these commands, the microcontroller 370implements the USB interface 391. The microcontroller 370 alerts themicrocontroller 380, to which it is communicatively coupled to, over aninternal link 390 as to the request for a bootload session. Accordingly,both microcontrollers 370 and 380 enter bootload mode.

In this mode the microcontroller 370, implementing the interface 391receives commands from the device 392 requesting read/write operationsto the various non-volatile memory areas 372, 373, 378, 382, 383, and388. The microcontroller 370 directly implements any such operations toits internal memory areas 372 and 373 or to its external memory device378 and responds with status and/or data over the interface 391. Themicrocontroller 370 passes any requests for access to the memory areasfor the microcontroller 380 over the internal link 390. Thatmicrocontroller 380 implements access to these areas and responds overthe internal link 390 with the status and/or data for such accesses. Themicrocontroller 370 relays any such responses and/or data over theexternal link 391. Here, the external device 392 reads/writes thevarious non-volatile memory areas within the particle counter 364.

In accordance with other aspects and embodiments, there are more orfewer microcontrollers in the particle counter 364 and some or all ofthe application use soft-processors on programmable logic, or via customASICs.

In certain embodiments, the bootloader is implemented such that the datacommunicated (e.g., read/written) to the various memory areas isencrypted, to protect valuable intellectual property from the originalequipment manufacturer.

After the above a bootloader has been implemented in a particle countinginstrument, such as to allow non-volatile memory areas to be read and/orwritten from an external interface, a variety of business processes areenabled. These include but are not limited to the following:

Sale of various instrument firmware options. In accordance with variousaspects, a base unit can be sold to a client with firmware optionsavailable for purchase at some later date. The client can purchase thesewhen they need the functionality offered by a particular option, and theupdate can be downloaded to the unit or device via a remote interface(online image), so that the unit or device can be upgraded withouthaving to be shipped to a service center. This allows a client to buyjust the instrument they need today with the confidence that this unitcan grow as they require over time, without investing in possible futureoptions at the time of purchase.

Firmware subscription service. In accordance with various aspects, inaddition to selling a base instrument a company can now sell asubscription service for that instrument (like is currently done formany engineering software products). The client would purchase an annualsubscription for the product, which would entitle them to all upgradesthat were created for their product over that period. The unit mightdownload such updates (on request or automatically) when connected to alocal computer. In accordance with various aspects and embodiments, theunit or device has wireless interfaces installed and updateautomatically or in accordance with defined rules for updating.

Remote diagnostics and troubleshooting. In accordance with some aspects,diagnostics or troubleshooting of complex errors or issues in the fieldis complicated given the firmware image installed in an instrument ordevice. The ability for service personnel to be able to upload thecurrent image in the instrument, download diagnostic firmware to theinstrument to run a more in-depth or targeted analysis of the subsystemin question, and then replace the original image as needed, mightprovide for a more timely and cost-effective resolution of a customerissue that might not result in the unit being returned to the factory ora service center for resolution.

Assisted calibration and service. In accordance with some aspects, aninstrument or a device needs calibration. In many cases service centersthat offer calibration services do so without the involvement of theoriginal equipment manufacturer (OEM), which can reduce the quality orrepeatability of the calibration. It also means that the OEM cannotanalyze the instrument in question for failures and issues within it, todate. Having an online bootloader allows a service center to download,from the OEM for each instrument, the calibration image. This wouldallow the OEM to do the following:

-   -   retrieve statistical data from every instrument on each        calibration cycle;    -   this would allow issues to be identified and flagged for this        instrument;    -   this would allow issues for a product family to be identified or        flagged;    -   this would provide valuable data for future products;    -   have more control over the quality and consistency of        calibration operations; and    -   allow end-users (with suitable equipment) to calibrate their        instruments themselves.

Application customization. In accordance with various aspects, aninterface that allows access to an instrument's memories allows foruser-customization. Sophisticated user-interfaces might be customized toinclude facility maps, complex recipes, etc. that could be created on apersonal computer or imported from pre-generated drawings and thendownloaded to on-board memories. In accordance with various aspects, ifthe on-board instrument programming is done as an API, then the usercould redesign the look-and-feel of the system and provide for acustomized and highly tailored user interface designed to suit theirparticular needs.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example only, notlimitation, and various changes in form and details may be made. Anyportion of the device, instrument, apparatus and/or methods describedherein may be combined in any combination, except mutually exclusivecombinations. The aspects and embodiments described herein can includevarious combinations and/or sub-combinations of the functions,components and/or features of the different embodiments described. Forexample, multiple, distributed processing systems can be configured tooperate in parallel.

Although the present invention has been described in detail withreference to certain embodiments, one skilled in the art will appreciatethat the present invention can be practiced by other than the describedembodiments, which have been presented for purposes of illustration andnot of limitation. Therefore, the scope of the appended claims shouldnot be limited to the description of the embodiments contained herein.

It will be apparent that various aspects of the present invention asrelated to certain embodiments may be implemented in software, hardware,application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, andapplication logic. The software, application logic and/or hardware mayreside on a server, an electronic device, or be a service. If desired,part of the software, application logic and/or hardware may reside on anelectronic device and part of the software, application logic and/orhardware may reside on a remote location, such as server.

In accordance with the aspects disclosed in the teachings of the presentinvention and certain embodiments, a program or code may be noted asrunning on a device, an instrument, a system, or a computing device, allof which are an article of manufacture. Additional examples of anarticle of manufacture include: a server, a mainframe computer, a mobiletelephone, a multimedia-enabled smartphone, a tablet computer, apersonal digital assistant, a personal computer, a laptop, or otherspecial purpose computer each having one or more processors (e.g., aCentral Processing Unit, a Graphical Processing Unit, or amicroprocessor) that is configured to execute a computer readableprogram code (e.g., an algorithm, hardware, firmware, and/or software)to receive data, transmit data, store data, or perform tasks andmethods. Furthermore, an article of manufacture (e.g., device) includesa non-transitory computer readable medium having a series ofinstructions, such as computer readable program steps or code, which isencoded therein. In certain aspects and embodiments, the non-transitorycomputer readable medium includes one or more data repositories, memory,and storage, including non-volatile memory. The non-transitory computerreadable medium includes corresponding computer readable program or codeand may include one or more data repositories. Processors access thecomputer readable program code encoded on the correspondingnon-transitory computer readable mediums and execute one or morecorresponding instructions. Other hardware and software components andstructures are also contemplated.

Annotations in Recorded Data

Particle counters provide a mechanism to store sample data to a localmemory area. This data can be accessed locally or downloaded to someremote system for more detailed analysis or processing. This datatypically comprises information like the sample date/time, the channelcounts for that sample, the location/recipe information for that sampleand perhaps some environmental information or error/alarm conditions forthe sample.

It is often difficult to remember conditions that were perhaps notableat the time of the sample, but otherwise go unrecorded in the data. Inaccordance with aspects of the invention, annotations are added to thedata either before the fact, during the sample, or after the fact basedon analysis or discussions with technicians or users.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a text field is added tothe recorded data samples (or as separate records in the log memory) andusers can annotate the data using the text field. These annotationscould be consulted at some later point when looking at the data andwould provide context for the logged data. For example, in the case ofhigh counts, for a particular sample, an annotation for that samplemight record the fact that a door to a clean air was openedinadvertently by someone, or that a defective filter was located, or anynumber such events. In accordance with aspects of the invention, thesenotes could also be made either before the sample, during the sample orbased on discussions or post-mortem after the data was recorded.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, the annotations could alsobe used to store particular tags in the data that could later be used toautomate the preparation of particular reports. Automated reportgenerators could process the data looking for these tags and performcertain actions based on these tags. For example, adding an annotationof <Rm101>to a number of samples could collect all the data from thatannotation until another was encountered and report all this data asseparate samples in a particular report. This could greatly simplifywhat is largely a manual process for many air quality consultants inaggregating sampling data into reports for clients.

Remote Access/Control (Concurrent Users)

In accordance with aspects of the invention, particle counters aredevices that have one main microcontroller in charge of collectingparticulate information, converting the particle counts into variousformats, logging data, displaying information and communicating withexternal devices. For most instruments this consumes the bulk thecontroller's resources and often this means that overall systemresponsiveness is impacted when significant bandwidth is allocated toseveral of these tasks concurrently.

Implementing a particle counting instrument as a distributed system withmultiple controllers sharing the load provides a means of partitioningthe workload in such a way as to improve responsiveness of each sectionof the instrument. It allows the instrument to dedicate resources to theprocessing of particulate data 500 as shown in FIG. 3F, so that thistask can occur unimpeded and reliably (which minimizes the chance ofparticulate information being lost due to interrupt latencies and such).Likewise a dedicated controller managing the user interface andmanipulation of the data means that the user-interface remainsresponsive and that enhanced graphical display can be implemented.Finally, with a controller dedicated to external interfaces the systemcan ensure that such interfaces remain responsive during even high pulsethroughput events.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a distributed system alsooffers means of having multiple concurrent users. For example, a localuser might be sampling data, and manipulating the graphical displayinterface to analyze the incoming data while the data is being sentautomatically to a facility monitoring system, and one or more usersaccess the data via web-browsers remotely. With this architecture alarge number of such interfaces are possible concurrently.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, remote control of theinstrument is possible. In a variety of situations it is desirable to beable to monitor the instrument remotely and control or configure itremotely. Rich external interfaces might allow for users to do such,either by controlling the local display and instrument directly (in thecase where a supervisor might walk a subordinate through setting up aninstrument for a particular task via a remote browser interface, so thatthe subordinate can monitor the changes as they occur). Or, theinstrument could be controlled by the operator from a remote location,in the case of a unit mounted in a fixed location, or left in place toprovide periodic monitoring.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, the remote access featurecan also be used to upgrade instruments or units in the field with newconfigurations or features, without having to open the instrument toaccess the unit's internals.

User-Configurable Instrumentation

Most particle counters are instruments that are configured at thefactory and retain that configuration over their lifetime. A few suchinstruments allow limited upgrades, but these are largely done as afixed upgrade that would apply to an entire family or class of productsand not to a particular instrument.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, significant advantagesaccrue if the individual instruments are upgradable in the field. Thisallows a manufacturer to offer maintenance subscriptions and upgradepaths for existing instruments, allowing such to be upgradedin-the-field without any removing the instrument from service, ordowntime. In much the same way as computers and phones are now routinelyupgraded, these instruments could upgrade themselves as bug fixes or newreleases to the firmware became available.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, the upgrade might beinitiated by the user rather than automated procedures, so that the usercould choose whether or not to accept such an upgrade. It also allows aninstrument to be purchased with one set of options and features andlater upgraded to add additional options or features. For example, a 3channel instrument with basic graphics and data analysis, could at somelater date be upgraded to a 6 channel instrument with an advancedgraphics package, and external facility monitoring interface. This couldbe done without adding any hardware or returning the unit to thefactory.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, in one embodiment the userwould access the manufacturer's website, and on selecting theirinstrument from a list of registered instruments adjust the feature setor options installed for that instrument purchase the desired upgradesand download them to a local computer from which they'd be installeddirectly to the instrument in question. In accordance with aspects ofthe invention, in another embodiment this all could be accomplisheddirectly from the instrument in question. This capability allows a userto purchase a basic instrument and then to upgrade that instrument astheir needs evolved over time, without being required to purchase anentirely new instrument.

Intelligent Sub-Systems

Typically particle counters have reasonably simple sub-systems. Theseinclude photo-amplifiers, laser controllers, pumps, batteries. Typicallynone of these have any local intelligence (as in microcontrollers oreven memory) and only simple interfaces to the main system. This makesidentification of individual components impossible (a counter cannoteasily determine if a photo-amplifier, or pump has been changed from oneuse to the next). It also complicates troubleshooting instrumentfailures or predicting such ahead of time.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, adding local intelligenceon sub-systems within the counter, the instrument or unit can provideenhanced functionality, reliability and diagnostics. For example eachsub-system could contain model information with detailed operatingparameters for that sub-system, as well as serial number information forthe sub-system in question. This allows an instrument to ensure that thesub-systems in an instrument are the same sub-systems as were usedduring the last calibration (or alert the user to any changes). For someapplications like the pharmaceutical industry such information isimportant as it would eliminate being able to use such an instrument forreporting.

It would also simplify the high-level particle counter implementation.In accordance with aspects of the invention, the module is allowed tomanage the low-level operations. Thus, the instrument can simply providehigh-level direction for the sub-system and leave the implementation ofsuch to the sub-system itself. For example, the counter might requestthat the pump operate at 75.2% of its rated power and adjust this valueup or down as required to achieve a desired flow, rather than having toattempt to control a motor to achieve this. This means that variouspumps could be substituted in an instrument over its lifetime withoutthe main counter firmware having to change to manage a large number ofpumps. It also means that pumps with significantly different flow ratescan be interfaced similarly, without significant changes to theinstrument. In some instrument the flow rate might be 0.1 CFM, in others1 CFM or even 10 CFM without requiring different interfaces even thoughthe pumps themselves and their controllers are vastly different.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, having local control allowsintelligence to be embedded in the sub-systems. That intelligence canprovide real-time control and monitoring of components in the sub-systemas well as providing statistical lifetime information, and performingpredictive analysis. The real-time control we've already discussed, thelifetime statistical information allows a unit track the total hours itsrun, the minimum and maximum and average conditions it encounteredduring its lifetime. A log of any errors encountered over its lifetime,etc. Since it tracking lifetime performance, the system can providewarnings as control parameters approach end-of-life or failureconditions. For example, by tracking current of the pump over its life ,the system could provide an early-warning indication of impendingfailure of such before it occurs. This would allow a user to planpreventive maintenance before such causes a removal of service for theinstrument. Furthermore, by tracking operational parameters , the systemmight also be able to determine when an instrument should berecalibrated, using more than simply elapsed time.

The sub-system alerts are based on parameters within the sub-systemitself. These could be adjusted remotely in order to adjust the responseof these systems over time, and to refine their behavior as historicalinformation for these accrues over the product life-cycle and algorithmsrefine these behaviors to render them more accurate and useful.

Advanced Alarming

Most particle counters have reasonably simplistic alarming. Thisnormally consists of a simple alarm threshold for each channel. Once achannel reaches this threshold alarms are asserted. An extension of thisadds alarming to specific recipes. In accordance with aspects of theinvention, alarm thresholds for one sampling setup might differ fromothers. That makes sense since the conditions might well differ as well.In some cases the system is measuring the air in a relatively cleanlocation and would want the alarms for that area to differ thansampling, the system might do in a significantly less clean location.Examples of these might be a gowning room in a cleanroom which is arelatively gray area compared to the highly regulated environment of thecleanroom proper. Many other such examples exist. This allows thesealarms to be defined in this way, so that they take precedence ofchannel alarm thresholds, so that the user doesn't have to adjust thechannel alarms in order to create different alarm thresholds fordifferent “recipes” or location samples. Also, both traditional alarmsand recipe alarms can also be configured with thresholds based on theparticulate mass calculation rather than counts on a specific channel.This allows for capabilities that are not implemented on existinginstruments.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, alarms can be specified forenvironmental conditions (as in temperature or relative humidity), whichextends the capabilities of the instrument for monitoring and reactingto more than just particulates. As other intelligent sensors are addedto the instrument (through an intelligent port) these can also be usedfor alarming. Such sensors include but are not limited to: air velocity,differential pressure, various gas sensors, etc.

Advanced Graphs/Charts

Particle counters typically display counts for a sample period asaccumulating counts over the period in question, either the counts for aspecific channel itself or the sum of counts for that channel and allthe other larger channels. This information is usually displayed as rawcount numbers and it can be difficult to determine trends in such datawhile simply looking at numbers increasing on a display. Displaying thedelta in these counts over a short period (say 1 second) is an attemptto make variations in the data more evident. It's still difficulthowever to visualize either trending changes or periodic changes bylooking at values.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, graphs and charts areparticularly useful for providing visual indications of such trends.Referring now to FIG. 4, a means of visualizing changes in particulatesover time is illustrated, which shows graphing of instrument data. Thesecan be run in real-time on data arriving into the instrument or theymight also be run on data already logged within the instrument. Thebottom axis is time, in seconds. The vertical axis is particle countsfor a particular sample. In this case there is an average of 12,000particles/second and , the system can see the variations in this data.In accordance with the various aspects of the invention, an advancedinstrument captures data much more quickly and could map this data witha much finer time resolution. That data could then be further analyzedwith any number of techniques or graphs to provide more detailedinformation on the data. For example an FFET (Fast-Fourier-Transform)would provide a frequency analysis of the data and might pinpointcertain frequencies at which particulates are arriving at theinstrument. These frequencies might provide indications as to possiblesources for these particulates.

The instrument could graph from each channel simultaneously, or theinstrument could provide a multi-channel histogram, as shown in FIG. 5,to display relative views of the data for each channel, perhaps with thealarm thresholds coded in a separate color for counts above somepre-defined alarm threshold.

Alternatively this “equalizer” type display could have horizontal barswith the maximums for each channel persistent for some short period(handful of seconds) that way as the bars changed the local maxima couldbe persistent to show local short-term trend information.

Real-Time Meter

Particle counters are typically used to monitor and record particlecounts over time. It can be quite challenging to use them to attempt todiscern the source of particulates. This is often largely because of theway the information is displayed (as cumulative counts, and as numberson the screen which must be interpreted real-time to make decisions asto the likely direction of particulates as the counter is moved about).In accordance with the various aspects of the invention, beeping abovesome threshold, or alarming, to attempt to improve the responsiveness ofthese instruments to particulate sources.

Referring now to FIG. 6, a display is shown, in accordance with thevarious aspects of the invention, for presenting the data in real-timein such a way as to be visually responsive to the present state ofparticles as they arrive into the instrument. This simplifies thetracking of such particles to their source. The display gives a visualindication of 6 channels of data. This particular histogram has a logscale that gives a relative indication of particulate traffic for eachchannel. The Range slider adjusts the sensitivity of the counters, sothat the user can adjust it as the source of the particulates areapproached so the system doesn't saturate the chart. The intention isthat the user adjusts the slider to try and keep the maximum channelnear the middle of the range. This provides strong visual feedback ofthe particulate data in real-time that can be used to facilitatetracking particulates to their source.

In addition to this display, the system can also provide similarfunctionality via audio, either through an on-board audio transducer orexternal headphone or earbud. The instrument could output either a setof pulses indicative of the scale (increasing frequency based on theheight of the selected channel, or a tone with a frequency indicative ofthe height of the selected channel (with a low frequency tone indicatingfewer particles and a higher tone indicating more particles). This wouldallow a user to use this instrument without having to continually lookat the display (in cases where they are looking at potential particulatesources around equipment etc.).

In accordance with aspects of the invention, in order to provide asmoother audio output the rate of change for the audio signal can belimited, such that it provided a more continuous tone with a more slowlyvarying frequency despite what might be dramatically differentvariations in particulate rates.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, a number of differentembodiments are possible for audio. The instrument or unit could bedesigned to have an output like a Geiger counter, with increasing pulserate indicative of the particle volume encountered (at a particularsensitivity). It could also have an output like a metal detector with atone of varying frequency (again based on the present sensitivitysetting).

Pulse Log Buffer

Particle counters process pulses as they arrive. In accordance withaspects of the invention, particle counters measure the pulse height andsometimes the pulse width and then increment the counter for aparticular channel based on one or both of these parameters. Once thisis done detailed information on an individual pulse is discarded.

If this and other parameters, for each pulse, are stored in a pulse logbuffer, it could be used to provide more detailed analysis onparticulates. If the system stored the time of arrival for a pulse, thepulse height, and width, then the system could use this information tocalculate a more accurate mass (as in item 1 above), though this mightbe done in real-time. But, having the data time-stamped would allow usto run more detailed temporal analyses on the data. A more accurate FFTmight reveal patterns in the data, it might identify issues in theairflow (both external and internal to the counter, for example it mightsignal pulsations in the airflow caused by a failing pump).

When particle concentrations are large this might well constitute anenormous amount of data, arriving at a high data rate. Under suchconditions the data needs to be cached quickly in a large memory.Present day FPGAs and SRAM, SDRAM, or DRAM memory chips are particularlysuited to this task. A particular capture profile might also be provided(limiting the data captured based on time, particle size, particle area,or some snapshot after a trigger event (for example capture ‘n’particles when before, during or after a particular particle density isreached).

Sophisticated triggers can limit the data captured and hencepost-capture analysis to events that are particularly of interest orconcern. The intention is to provide features commonly seen on a digitalstorage oscilloscope, as to triggering, capture, and display of thedata. In addition to complex triggers, multiple events could becaptured, averaged, or gleaned for minimum/maximum values to provide anenvelope for the event. The data could be processed locally ordownloaded to a local controller for further processing or display orexported to an external computer for further analysis or manipulation.This functionality also provides the means to potentially improvecalibration of an instrument. If extensive data is captured or collectedduring the calibration process, the a more accurate individual channelcriteria can be derived to arrive at better separation between adjacentchannels, and therefore allow many more discriminated channels within aninstrument.

Instrument Network

In accordance with aspects of the invention, particle counters can beindividual instruments and networked. In accordance with aspects of theinvention, some are networked and connected to facility monitoringsystems or to central networks within a facility. At times instrumentsare networked locally and perhaps connected to external data collectionor display units. In accordance with aspects of the invention,connecting a system with multiple particle counters through a simplehub/switch to a more sophisticated counter with a display allows for avery low-cost system that can be installed simply and provide display,logging and reporting from low-cost particle counters without eachrequiring a display or sophisticated interface. It does so withoutrequiring computers or external monitors be installed and loaded withdata collection and analysis firmware.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, referring to FIG. 7, in oneembodiment is shown with a particle counting instrument 70 is shown withparticle counters 72 (each, in accordance one aspect of the invention,without a display) and an Ethernet network hub or switch 74. Inaccordance with aspects of the invention, the instruments/particlecounters/units communicate via a number of means, some of which includeWiFi, RS-485, RS-232, Zigbee, Bluetooth, or any number of other links.Thus, a small network can easily be formed without requiring externalhardware and software. This significantly lowers the cost and complexityof setting up a small monitoring system in an area. Such a system couldbe used to implement a small monitoring system for a manufacture thathas only a small clean area, perhaps in final assembly or the like.

In accordance with aspects of the invention, it also provides a means ofdeploying such a system for troubleshooting in a large factory. Forexample in a large pharmaceutical factory, or when qualifying a newprocess line in a manufacturing plant, a simple system could be setuplike the above with dozens of low-cost particle counters and one largerunit with a display. The larger unit could be setup to acquire data fromeach of the smaller counters and to display that data either in series(cycling through the counters one at a time), or by using tiles or ascrollable window to allow data from all of the counters to besummarized or displayed. The main counter could also preferentiallydisplay data from the counters, for example in the case of alarms on aparticular sensor its data could rise to the top of a list or appearinstead of or on top of other normal data.

Adding an external vacuum pump, some vacuum hose and power supply wouldmake the system reasonably self-contained. It could be mounted on a cartfor rapid deployment in the case of an event detected in a factoryallowing for quick analysis of a problem, in the hopes of speedyresolution. In many of these installations downtime is very costly, so asystem that can be rapidly deployed and provide quick and effectivemonitoring of dozens or more nodes is of value.

Though not shown, the external counters could be a variety of differenttypes of counters, of classes of counters with varying functionality,sensitivity, or number of channels from a single manufacturer or frommany manufacturers. The main counter would know how to interface to eachof these and how to display the data particular to any one counter(which also providing summary data common to all counters, as in numberof counts for each installed channel, and the size of each channel).

It will be apparent that various aspects of the invention as related tocertain embodiments may be implemented in software, hardware,application logic, or a combination of software, hardware, andapplication logic. The software, application logic and/or hardware mayreside on a server, an electronic device, or be a service. If desired,part of the software, application logic and/or hardware may reside on anelectronic device and part of the software, application logic and/orhardware may reside on a remote location, such as server.

In accordance with the teaching of the invention and certainembodiments, a program or code may be noted as running on a computingdevice, instrument, or unit. The computing device is an article ofmanufacture. Examples of an article of manufacture include: aninstrument, a unit, a server, a mainframe computer, a mobile telephone,a multimedia-enabled smartphone, a tablet computer, a personal digitalassistant, a personal computer, a laptop, or other special purposecomputer each having one or more processors (e.g., a controller, aCentral Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphical Processing Unit (GPU), or amicroprocessor) that is configured to execute a computer readableprogram code (e.g., an algorithm, hardware, firmware, and/or software)to receive data, transmit data, store data, or perform methods. Thearticle of manufacture (e.g., computing device) includes memory that canbe volatile or non-volatile. The memory, according to one aspect, is anon-transitory computer readable medium having a series of instructions,such as computer readable program steps encoded therein.

In accordance with aspects and certain embodiments of the invention, thenon-transitory computer readable medium includes one or more datarepositories. The non-transitory computer readable medium includescorresponding computer readable program code and may include one or moredata repositories. Processors access the computer readable program codeencoded on the corresponding non-transitory computer readable mediumsand execute one or more corresponding instructions.

Other hardware and software components and structures are alsocontemplated. Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientificterms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one ofordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. Although anymethods and materials similar or equivalent to those described hereincan also be used in the practice or testing of the invention,representative illustrative methods and materials are now described.

All publications and patents cited in this specification are hereinincorporated by reference as if each individual publication or patentwere specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated byreference and are incorporated herein by reference to disclose anddescribe the methods and/or system in connection with which thepublications are cited. The citation of any publication is for itsdisclosure prior to the filing date and should not be construed as anadmission that the invention is not entitled to antedate suchpublication by virtue of prior invention. Further, the dates ofpublication provided may be different from the actual publication dateswhich may need to be independently confirmed.

All statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments ofthe invention as well as specific examples thereof, are intended toencompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof.Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include bothcurrently known equivalents and equivalents developed in the future,i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardlessof structure. The scope of the invention, therefore, is not intended tobe limited to the exemplary embodiments shown and described herein.Rather, the scope and spirit of invention is embodied by the appendedclaims.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A networked particle counter system comprising: aplurality of networked particle counters connected by a communicationnetwork, each particle counter including a light detecting particlesensor in communication with a memory, the light detecting particlesensor device being configured to detect airborne particles passingthrough light in a flow channel from a light source, the light detectingparticle sensor further including at least one output channel, the lightdetecting particle sensor generating an electrical signal for eachparticle counted of a plurality of particles passing through the flowchannel of the light detecting particle sensor; wherein each particlecounter includes a signal processing circuit connected to the lightdetecting particle sensor and the memory, the signal processing circuitgenerating digitized pulse height data wherein the pulse height datathat are more than a threshold value for the at least one output channelare counted, and wherein the memory receives particle count data for theat least one output channel for data storage; wherein each particlecounter includes an instrument controller that controls operation of therespective particle counter and processes the digitized particle countdata; and wherein at least one of the particle counters is a displayparticle counter that includes a network controller operating aninterface to the communication network such that a user can remotelyaccess and control an operation of the plurality of networked particlecounters.
 22. The system of claim 21, further comprising an interfacecontroller connected to a remote computer, the remote computer operatinga web browser to access particle count data stored in the memory of eachparticle counter.
 23. The system of claim 21, wherein display particlecounter includes a display having a graphical user interface thatdisplays particle count data of each of the plurality of particlecounters.
 24. The system of claim 21, further comprising a data storagedevice that receives logged data from the memory of each particlecounter.
 25. The system of claim 21, wherein the interface comprises auniversal serial bus (USB) interface.
 26. The system of claim 23,wherein the display comprises a user interface including a touchscreendisplay.
 27. The system of claim 21 wherein each particle countercomprises a sub-system that stores particle counter operating parametersincluding pump operating power, pump current and flow rate.
 28. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein each signal processing circuit furthercomprises an analog to digital converter and a data processor that isconfigured to generate the digitized pulse height data.
 29. The systemof claim 21, wherein the external networked device comprises a particlecounter having a front end pulse processor with a field programmablegate array (FPGA).
 30. The system of claim 21, wherein each instrumentcontroller is connected to the signal processing circuit and the memory,the instrument controller configured to set the threshold.
 31. Thesystem of claim 21, further comprising a battery providing power to atleast one of the particle counters that generates particle count datafor each of a plurality of output channels and a power controller thatcontrols power distribution to at least one of the particle countersfrom the battery.
 32. The system of claim 21, further comprising asub-system that tracks operating parameters for at least one of theparticles, the sub-system determining a recalibration schedule.
 33. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein a sub-system logs system errors over time.34. The system of claim 21, wherein the light detecting particle sensorcomprises a photodetector that detects particles passing through a lightbeam, the light beam is generated by a laser or light emitting diode(LED).
 35. The system of claim 21, wherein a sub-system storesidentification of system components including the light source, a lightsource controller, a pump, and a battery.
 36. The system of claim 21,further comprising a pump or fan providing an airflow through each lightdetecting particle sensor, and a pulse log buffer that stores a pulseheight, a pulse width, an arrival time and increments a counter.
 37. Thesystem of claim 21, further comprising a sub-system that storescomponent model information and serial number information.
 38. Thesystem of claim 21, further comprising a plurality of at least threeoutput channels, each channel processing particle data for a differentparticle size range.
 39. The system of claim 21, wherein the lightdetecting particle sensor comprises a light detector that is connectedto an amplifier, an analog to digital converter and a field programmablegate array (FPGA) to provide front end parallel processing of detectedsignals.
 40. The system of claim 21, wherein each particle counted isrecorded with a time stamped data field.
 41. The system of claim 21,wherein the signal processing circuit is connected to the instrumentcontroller to control a plurality of at least three particle countingchannels, each channel having a threshold configured by the instrumentcontroller and being latched at time intervals simultaneously.
 42. Thesystem of claim 21, wherein the signal processing circuit comprises adata processor is configured to operate a graphical interface on thedisplay, wherein graphical data can be displayed as a function of time.43. The system of claim 21, wherein the system comprises a portable unitthat further comprises a power source and power controller having apower save mode.
 44. A portable particle counter device comprising: atleast one or more networked portable battery operated optical particlecounters, each optical particle counter having a light detectingparticle sensor, the light detecting particle sensor being configured todetect airborne particles passing through a flow channel between a flowinput and a flow output of the particle counter, and further includingan output channel, a light detecting particle sensor detecting lightfrom a light source in the particle counter and generating an electricalsignal for each particle counted of a plurality of particles passingthrough the flow channel; wherein the at least one or more networkedbattery operated optical particle counters includes a signal processingcircuit and a power source in the particle counter wherein the signalprocessing circuit is connected to the light detecting particle sensorand a memory, the signal processing circuit generating digitized pulseheight data wherein the pulse height data exceeds a threshold for theoutput channel; wherein an instrument controller in each of the at leastone or more networked battery operated portable optical particlecounters that processes the digitized pulse height data wherein theinstrument controller periodically generates a data record that includesparticle count data; and a display particle counter having a networkcontroller and that is connected to a communication interface such thata user can control a particle counter operation of each of the networkedparticle counters.
 45. The device of claim 44, further comprising aninterface controller that is connected to a remote computing device. 46.The device of claim 44, wherein the display particle counter furthercomprises a display that displays particle count data detected over timefor a plurality of output channels from each networked particle counter.47. The device of claim 44, wherein each instrument controller isconnected to the signal processing circuit and the memory, theinstrument controller configured to set the threshold.
 48. The device ofclaim 46, wherein the battery providing power to the display thatgraphically depicts particle count data for each output channel.
 49. Thedevice of claim 44, further comprising a power controller that controlspower distribution to the system from a battery.
 50. The device of claim44, further comprising a link to a network including a plurality oflight detecting particle sensor devices that are connected to a datastorage device with the network.
 51. The device of claim 44, wherein thelight detecting particle sensor device comprises a photodetector thatdetects particles passing through a light beam generated by a laser orlight emitting diode (LED).
 52. The device of claim 44, wherein theinstrument controller is configured to receive a remote software upgradewith the communication interface.
 53. The device of claim 44, whereinthe communication interface comprises a serial interface or a universalserial bus (USB).
 54. The device of claim 44, further comprising a pumpor fan providing an airflow through each light detecting particlesensor.
 55. A method of remotely operating a networked particle countercomprising: detecting airborne particles with a networked particlecounter having a light detecting particle sensor in communication with amemory and an instrument controller, the airborne particles passingthrough light passing through a flow channel from a light source, thelight detecting particle sensor further including at least one outputchannel, the light detecting particle sensor generating an electricalsignal for each particle counted of a plurality of particles passingthrough the light detecting particle sensor; processing the generatedelectrical signals with a signal processing circuit connected to thelight detecting particle sensor and the memory, the signal processingcircuit generating digitized pulse height data wherein the pulse heightdata that are more than a threshold value for the at least one outputchannel are counted, and wherein the memory receives particle count datafor the at least one output channel; and remotely controlling anoperation of the particle counter using a display particle counterhaving a network controller, the network controller being incommunication with the particle counter.
 56. The method of claim 55,further comprising controlling a network communication with an interfacecontroller connected to a network hub.
 57. The method of claim 55,further comprising operating a sub-system to monitor system parametersduring a time period.
 58. The method of claim 57, wherein the sub-systemstores system component data and determines a recalibration schedule.59. The method of claim 57, wherein the sub-system logs system errorsand predicts component failure.
 60. The method of claim 55, furthercomprising adjusting a flow rate of particles through a flow channelwherein the data record further comprises a time stamp field.
 61. Themethod of claim 55 wherein the step of processing the generatedelectrical signals with the signal processing circuit comprisesprocessing with a pulse processing front end circuit including an fieldprogrammable gate array (FPGA).
 62. The method of claim 55 wherein thenetwork comprises a plurality of remotely controlled particle countersconnected to a system particle counter.
 63. The method of claim 55further comprising performing a calibration of the particle counter andcommunicating calibration data to a remote computer.
 64. The method ofclaim 55 further comprising operating an external monitoring interfaceto monitor a plurality of channels of each networked particle counterwherein each particle counter can be remotely configured to alter aparticle counting operation.